Which smoothbore flinter would you choose for hunting

[maudite]

Looking for a smoothbore flinter for hunting birds, rabbits and maybe deer and have narrowed it down to these two a Pedersoli Mortimer 12ga or the NorthStar Officers musket , which one would you choose and why.

[Mark Horvat]

The North Star, hands down.  Good company with excellent customer service. 

Mark

[Kermit]

There is a Dave Dolliver assembled 12ga made with Curly/North Star parts in this site's classified at the moment.

[hanshi]

NSW and don't look back.

[FlintFan]

Looking for a smoothbore flinter for hunting birds, rabbits and maybe deer and have narrowed it down to these two a Pedersoli Mortimer 12ga or the NorthStar Officers musket , which one would you choose and why.

I would definitely prefer the "style" of the Pedersoli Mortimer, over the longer barreled musket, especially for bird hunting.  A half stock, English sporting gun is a much better choice for your bird and rabbits over a musket.  Both guns can be loaded with ball, but I would give a slight advantage to the musket for deer hunting due to it's heavier weight and longer barrel for aiming. 

As others have mentioned NorthStar is a very good quality gun and company, the Pedersoli is ok.  If you ever need a spare part, heaven help you if you need to get one from Pedersoli.

If you really are serious about your bird and rabbit hunting, I would try to find an English sporting gun, or have one made.  Or as a second choice, look for a light weight full stock fowler.  It would be lighter than a musket, but it would have the same disadvantage for upland bird and rabbit hunting, by having a long barrel. 

[bob in the woods]

When you say "birds" I assume you do not include ducks geese etc. ?   If you do include them, I would refer you to the duck hunting thread, wherein I use and recommend the Chamber's 10 bore New England Fowling gun.
I use it for just about everything, including deer, bear and moose hunting.
If you will be mainly hunting partridge etc and deer, you would , I believe, be more than adequately served by something like the Pennsylvania  or Officer's guns in 20 bore.  Either of these are superb  hunting guns

[frogwalking]

I once looked at the Mortimer.  I decided it was too heavy.

[stuart cee dub]

A Petersoli?
Not crazy about their locks .Seen too many friends struggle getting them to spark or had issues with getting replacement parts in the past .
With a flinter the lock is most of the battle.A good lock with a fast lock time that does not eat flints is what makes it fun .
Maybe someone who has used the NSW gun lock can weigh in .

[Daryl]

A local guy here has a Mortimer and he is dang hard to beat on birds, ie: 'clay birds'.  His gun does not have enough drop at the comb or heal for shooting round balls, unfortunately - for about anyone who has a cheek bone on the right side - or left for lefties.
It shoots well and patterns well, but the stock will prevent most people from enjoying it's shooting traits.
The 10 bore flowler Bob mentioned would be my choice - certainly not anything smaller than a 12. Take ducks and geese out of the formula and a 20 bore will do, but lacks the big game smacking power of the 12 or 10 bore.

[Vomitus]

   I've had fantastic results regarding lock time with Jim's big Colonial and English locks so I'd go with his NE Fowler in 12 gauge. A 10 would be perfect for birds but loaded with a roundball for moose or bison, the recoil might scare me.A bigger fella probably would handle it fine, but a 12ga. loaded for bear is as about as much punishment as I want to absorb! A 12ga. shoots a nice square load with shot.JMHO.